How to create a garden playground

A beautiful family home can easily be made complete with the addition of some well-thought out garden design. For those with children, creating an inviting, safe and fun outdoor space is often a top priority but choosing what type of garden playground to install, or deciding how to make an outdoor space engaging, can be difficult.

Take a look at the following ideas for gorgeous landscaping and let your own creativity bloom into a fantastic garden playground for you and your family.

Terrific timber

Modern Family garden in North London

No garden playground would be complete without a good solid fort! Perfect for giving parents peace of mind that their children are safe in the garden, as well as offering little ones a fun adventure, the size and scale of your fort can be easily tailored to your specific space requirements. Ideal for big gardens, a timber fort could also easily be constructed in smaller areas with some skilled scaling down, making a fantastic addition to any garden playground. This 'children only' area will delight for years to come and never go out of style.

The all-in-one

Tree house

Is it a den? Is it a treehouse? Is it a climbing frame? It's all three! Offering an all-in-one garden playground experience, this two-storey installation, from the team over at Treesaurus is every child's dream. Perfect for relaxing on summer days, thanks to the hammock and encouraging physical activity with the integrated climbing wall and fireman's pole, this is one garden playground that has it all and allows children to be kept in one area for supervision.

More than a Wendy house

Arden Climbing Frame Fire Mans Poles and Picnic Table

For those with a flair for impressively large-scale projects, a playhouse such as this is a great addition to any garden playground. With cubby holes and extensive space, multiple children can enjoy and use this feature safely, while maintaining their own space and participating in all-important exercise. The addition of slides makes for even more fun and the proportions make sure that this is a children-only zone, encouraging free play and self-expression.

Dreams can be small

Treehouse

Just look at this for the perfect small garden playground installation. If you're short of space, a project such as this can be made and placed easily, taking up little room but offering a multitude of fun and wonderment. The best part is that you don't even need a mature tree in your garden to create a stunning treehouse anymore! Garden playgrounds are as varied and creative as the people putting them together and any child would love to be presented with this, so take inspiration and let your style run wild!

Citadel in the sky

Amazing treehouse

Less treehouse and more citadel, this incredible building has taken full advantage of a large and mature tree, as well as a huge amount of free space, to create a garden playground beyond compare. Perfect for sleepovers, fantasy play and parties, children will marvel at this and never want to come back to the family house! Fully adaptable, the design principles are simple with the tree taking much of the load-bearing responsibility, supported by numerous splints underneath. Architectural features, such as the carved oak arches can be adapted to taste, so there is no limit to how far you can go.

Neverland

Artilignum

Living up in the trees seems like so much fun, thanks to peter Pan, and now with this impressive playhouse/observation deck installation it can be a reality! Garden playgrounds are becoming increasingly more adventurous and exciting and children will love the opportunity to play house and keep an eye on what the adults are doing. Finding inspiration here on homify for your garden couldn't be simpler and in this case, the rope bridge adds a sense of mischief and fun and turns a normal tree house into something very special and unique.

Space Age

The Sphere has landed

Who says a garden playground has to be made of wood? This amazing retro style Space Age pod nestles itself perfectly within the garden foliage to offer a garden playground fit for adults. The perfect location for an evening supper or a fun-filled summer day, this pod opens up endless possibilities for unique installations.

Small scale, big fun

The Secret Classroom

Not everybody has vast expanses of free land to install large garden playgrounds, but this is when imagination needs to come into play. Children are naturally curious, so education is just as much fun as wild abandoned play. With this in mind, why not try building an allotment style garden playground? You will only need a small space and a few seed packets to provide endless hours of garden fun for children. This small plot is the perfect example of what can be achieved with a very small budget and limited facilities.

Water water everywhere!

Adults like a garden playground as much as children, they just have slightly different tastes as to what constitutes a fun time. For an upmarket and stylish garden installation, try a water feature and detailed topiary display. For those with more space to play with, a maze is an incredible and fun addition to any garden playground but be sure to keep an eye on any children that venture in and always supervise children around a water feature.

Wonderful waterfall

Modern Family garden in North London

Any garden, even a tiny courtyard space, can be transformed into a garden playground with some careful thought and efficient space use. A small but well-placed water feature, such as this mini waterfall, will bring endless hours of fun and enjoyment to children and adults alike. Combined with a small wildflower plantation (a single tub will suffice), a wall mounted water feature will encourage wildlife to visit and allow children to see functioning garden ecosystems as nature's garden playground.